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Thursday, April 20, 2017

#Fairplay: "Government should not set up a religious test for which kids get protection on playgrounds."

I spoke yesterday outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments in a court case over whether the Government can exclude kids who play on church-owned playgrounds from safety programs. The case could have broad implications across the nation for how governments treat faith-based institutions and individuals.
I really appreciated working together with colleagues from groups like Concerned Women for America (CWA) and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) to highlight the message that Government should not set up a religious test for which kids get safety protections.

Check out photo and video highlights from CWA and ADF: (see 4/19 ADF video posted at 10:17 a.m. Apr 19). My remarks at the Court are on the ADF video noted above at around the 34:00-minute mark.
Following is text of my presentation:

I am Jonathan Imbody, and I represent the Christian Medical
Association and our partner organization, Freedom2Care. We filed a brief in
support of the children who play at the Trinity Lutheran playground and in
support of the principles of freedom at stake in this case.

Our position is that the government should not set up a religious
test for which kids get protection on playgrounds. And that if religious
freedom means anything, it means that a government cannot discriminate against a
religious group just because of their faith.

If this had been a real playground, rubbertire scraps would help protect these kids.

So that means that children who play on the playground of a
religious group should have equal access to public safety measures. In this
case, rubber tire scraps can mean the difference between a child falling and
crying a little and a child falling and suffering a traumatic brain injury.

That principle of the government not discriminating against
citizens on the basis of their religion just seems like common sense. But apparently
these days, as Will Rogers observed, "Common sense ain't common."

In years past, virtually everyone knew that America existed
because of the search for religious freedom. We knew that as Americans, we
could live out our faith and convictions without fear of government coercion or
discrimination.

So what has changed?

Well, if we're candid, what has changed is that a growing
number of Americans do not personally hold to any faith, And it's become more
acceptable to express hostility toward people of faith and institutions of
faith.

If you are watching a movie, and that movie has a character who
is a Christian, do you think it is more likely that that character will be a villain
or a hero?

Much of the hostility seems to focus on the fact that people
of faith often hold convictions on hotly debated topics like abortion, sex and
marriage—convictions that differ from some people who do not share in that
faith.

So if you don't like those convictions, what is the easiest
way to beat your religious opponents on these issues? Shut them up, marginalize
them, exclude them from the public square. Make them the one group that it's
okay to discriminate against.

And I would suggest that that way of thinking has resulted
in a concerted pressure to reduce religious freedom to something more like religious
permission.

Religious permission means, okay, you can believe whatever
you want—but only as long as you keep it inside the four walls of your church,
synagogue or mosque. Your religious views will not be allowed in public.

Religious permission means you can sing your little religious
songs, pray to whatever gods you imagine inside your head, talk about love and
peace and sing around the campfire.

But actually living out your religious beliefs, your
conscience, your convictions in the public square?

Well, that's where religious permission draws the line.

Because under religious permission, you don't get to live
out your beliefs if those beliefs do not fall in line with the popular culture …
or with the political party in power.

But we have come out here today to remind us all that our
shared First Amendment rights benefit not just people of faith, but every one of
us, regardless of religion.

These First Amendment protections mean that in America, you
don't have to ask the government's permission for how to think, what to believe
or whether or not you can live out your convictions.

That's because our First Amendment freedoms of faith and
speech are a right--not a permission granted by government--but an inalienable human
right, given by God.

As Thomas Jefferson put it, "Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights
only as we have submitted to them. The
rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable
for them to our God."

And as our Constitution's First Amendment puts it:

Friend Katie Doherty of Rep. Vicky Hartzler's office.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…."

The government cannot force you to believe in a certain
religion. And the government cannot prohibit you from freely exercising your religious
convictions.

The government can't coerce you, shut you up or discriminate
against you. Those are protections we all need to live, think, act and speak
freely.